St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-29
aid: "You are here" The things seized in

lulliC WutlutT tucy WcT6 l6Sttny tHClOs hC
only question was: "Are these things tesu-
mony!' and that was not an inquiry Tor THIS
court. Forgery, murder and other crimes
had to be proved, Mr.. Grinnell said, by such
evidence. '"The pistol found i'll the hand OF
the assassin Guiteau was forcibly taken from
him, and his papers, if l remember rightly,
were overhauled. They were there (that is
in the COURT and it was nobody's business
how they got there. That the search and
seizure in this case were unreasonable search
and seizure from the point of view of the de-
PENDANTS have no doubt" In conclusion
Mr.. Grinnell said: 1T strikes us, from our
standpoint, that the foundation of the con-
stitution is less likely to be impaired by re-
fusing to grant this writ than by granting it."
At the conclusion of Mr.. Grinnell's argu-
ment, which had occupied less than half the
time to which he was entitled, Gen. Butler
rose and said that the Introduction or all
this pew matter (referring to Mr.. GrinnelPs
recital OF the circumstances and results OF
the searches and seiZures) which was not in
the brief of counsel, and which he had not
seen anywhere in print, wOu, ID compel him TO
ask for more time than had been allotted to
him.. that this extraneous matter must be
popular with the court or its introduction
would not be permitted.
The chief justice remarked that the court
could not know whether these matters were
in the record or not but as they were stated
by the states attorney the court must assume
that they were.
Gen. Butler said that he had not examined
the whole 5000 pages, but he knew he could
demonstrate that some portion of this eX-
traneous r,atter was very different from what
appeared in the record, and he must ask for
more time to speak with reference to matters
or which he had not before heard. He and
his associates had been taken by surprise,
and the lives of their clients had thus been
put in jeopardy.
Mr.. Grinnell, interrupting, said that he un-
derstoGd the counsel on the other side to
make a complaint to the court that there was
an indication of unreasonable search and
seizure. Their printed brief showed that a
great many things had been seized and he
(GrinnelD had simply added that other
wefds," said Mr.. Grinnell, I'VE admit the
seizure and we admit more seizures
GEN. BUTLER
said that he would state the points of con-
tention and if he stated them wrongly, he
wanted to be corrected ''by any gentleman
who did not advocate the right to steal
men and to steal their papers," After de-
scribing what heppened previous to the Hay
mar ket meeting, he said: ''At that meeting
bomb was thrown by somebody for some
purpose, and there is not one word in these
5000 pages of evidence to show that any
one of these men had anything to do with
throwing that bomb. There were but two of
these men within miles of that meeting, and
one had his wife and two little children
in the very. place almost where that
bomb was lighted. Its explosion killed
single policeman. and within a few days all
OF these men were arrested without warrant,
10 Jail anu nelu LQer6 W1tnOuI eX-
animation and without process until they
were indicted by grand jury. And to de-
scribe simple crime, if crime it was, the
states attorney had to draw an Indictment of
SiXty-nine counts During the trial the
judge allowed questions to be asked with re-
gard to conspiracy, although in all the
ninety-six counts of the Indictment there
was no conspiracy alleged. He said that he
was ready to pledge himself that there was
not single man of the jury selected who
had not said that he had a firIn-and some of
them an NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., opinion
and prejudice against the defendants. After
great deal of rambling talk about the COM
position OF the jury, dissatisfaction with the
record, lack of time for preparation, the
sentencing of the prisoners in their absence
and that of their counsel. the injustice
done them by unreasonable search and
seizure etc. Gen. Butler said that if all
these things could be done 1.-THE question
was to be debated whether this government
would not be little better if it were over
turned into an anarchy, than if it were to be
| carried on in this fashion" II have no
fear" he said, ''of being misunderstood upon
| this question. l have the individuality of
being the only man in the United States that
condemned and executed men for undertak-
ing to Overturn the law. There were thou-
| sands of them. And for that act, please.
your honors, price was set on my head as
though were wolf and sos, 900 was
offered to any man that could capture me to
murder me by Jefferson Davis and his asso-
ciates, and who if they were at your bar
trying to ascertain whether they should have
| an honest and a fair trial for their great
crimes. and they called upon me-their lives
in danger-I should hold it to be my duty to
stand here and do all that might to defend
them. That is the chivalry of the law,
if 1 understand it, and if I don't it is
not of much consequence, Tor am quite
| easily and quickly passing away" After
some further talk, Gen. Butler said he agreed
constitution were limitations of federal
power and not restrictions of the rights of
the states The privileges and immunities, -
! however. claimed by the prisoners, were
privileges inherent in each Que of the citi-
zens of the several states of the United
States, because i'll vast majority
wEwERE BRITISH SUBJECTS
and had certain privileges and immunities
inherited under the common law and magma
charta and among them, and the most thor
oughly known and defined were the trial by
jury for all high crimes, exemption from
search and seizure without warrant of law,
protection from self-accusation when wit
ness, and not to be deprived of life liberty
or property without due process of law. We
claim that all the rights. privileges and i'm
munities that belonged to a British subject
under magma charta belong to each citizen of
the United States: and that as new citizens
OF the United States were made,
these rights, privileges and immunities came
| to them as citizens of the United States. The
| effect of the fourteenth amendment was to
Iu6SG TlSDtS, privileges ana 1mmu
mites to the citizens of all the states. The
| The words due process of law as con-
| tained in the fourteenth amendment and as
| used to define one of these guaranteed rights.
! mean 'by the law of the land" not the law
of country, province, or a state, but the
| law of the country-the whole country. That
| is the law of the land and was so understood
by our forefathers as due process of law.
| Any other meaning given to 'due process of
| law as it is used in the fourteenth amend
ment would make it simply ridiculous and
| frivolous, because any state may enact a
due prosess of law according to that state
! by which mans life may be taken, and from
which not single right or immunity of citi-,
zenship can protect him. Any law state
may take, after the passage of this amend
ment, for dealing with the rights of a citizen
the land'' must forever remain fixed
| as at that moment not to be changed in re-
| gard to its citizens without a change of Or
| ganic law, and for some purposes not to be
even so changed. Gen. Butler then pro-
| ceeded to a consideration of the special and
peculiar questions raised by the cases OF
Fielden and Spies, who are foreigners He
| contended that treaties were the supreme law
| of the land, and that these prisoners were en-
| titled by virtue of treaties with Germany and
Great Britain to all the rights and privileges
| of American citizens at the time such treat
| les were made. A state had no power to try
| these men by one of its own laws which was
not the law of the land at the time the treat
les WERE ratiheu. ne uiu noC mean, ne Sald,
| that foreigner could come into a state and
| break its laws with impunity and that the
| state could not touch him. But he did mean
that the state could only try him in accord
! ance with
THE LAW OF THE LAND
| the whole land-at the time the treaty with
| his government was made. This he said
| was an important question to every Ameri
| can citizen. because in return for the conces-
| s;ons made by this government in the treaty
with Great Britain, the government of that
| country had made similar concessions to us.
| Suppose that a Ecitizen of the United States
| should go to Ireland and should make some
rl a the mt Of